11 January 2009

Rick Warren: Mass Murderer

I know, shocking title, eh? Shocking! What slander! This will make sense in just a moment.

Vjack at Atheist Revolution has an interesting post up today highlighting the work of your friend and mine, Rick Warren, in Africa. You know Africa. Lovely landscapes, nauseating HIV/AIDS rates. Apparently, the oh-so good work he's done there--the stuff he touts, the wonderful work battling HIV/AIDS--includes his man on the ground there, Martin Ssempa, doing great things. Things like burning condoms for Jesus. And demonizing homosexuals. Because everyone knows homos carry AIDS and disseminate it amongst us decent, healthy heteros like the plague. *shudder at the dumb*

This is how Rick Warren combats HIV/AIDS. Heck of a job, there, jackass.

So, what about this mass murderer stuff? Well, I'm only applying the same idiot rationalization that folks like Warren apply to women and contraception. See, all forms of contraception (which, obviously, must be burned) prevents pregnancy. Therefore, it is murder. Therefore, one women who uses, say, a condom to avoid becoming pregnant has, by all intents and purposes, murdered that unborn child. She is a murderer. So, by that reasoning (*cough* I choke using that word), Rick Warren and his pal Ssempa, by spreading misinformation regarding condoms, are indeed, mass murderers. See, if a man does not use a condom when he's engaging in a sex act with another person, he is deliberately avoiding keeping the disease to himself--he is purposefully spreading the fatal disease. He is a murderer. If a man tells thousands of people not to use life-saving contraception, he is a mass murderer. Rick Warren has made murderer of innocent Africans. He is complicit.

So, if we are absolutely compelled to take these people seriously, and by "these people" I am referring to the lunatics of the right-wing religious fringe, by legitimizing their lunacy and giving them a stage from which to spread their poison, aren't we also complicit? Of course, we're not. We don't condone this. We have been saying no, we will not give these crazy people the time of day. But who has? Barack Obama. And he will be doing it officially as he is sworn in on January 20th. Isn't that lovely? Yes, the man who promised hope will be giving his official stamp of approval to, not just an individual, but to a school of thought that knowingly kills thousands Africans and orphans their children. He is complicit.

It's not too late, though. He can look at this interesting (read: sickening) new information about Warren, though, honestly, every disgusting thing Warren represents up to this point should have been enough, and he can refuse to give him this national platform. I'm willing to bet money, though, that he won't. He will go ahead and give his approval. This, people, is not good.

Rick Warren and his ilk are willfully ignorant bigots who serve only to further the devolution of society and humanity. I have great hope we can get their influence reduced, if not eliminated. But will it be in time?